Howell man's skills help a vanishing art ticking

In a June 3, 2013 photo, Donald Yax works with the finely finished tiny parts common to quality mechanical watches and clocks at Donald Jewelers in Howell, Mich. At age 87, Yax says that he loves what he does. (AP Photo/Daily Press & Argus, Alan Ward)

In a June 3, 2013 photo, drawers full of classic mechanical watch parts which Donald Yax uses to repair customer watches, where appropriate are seen in his shop, Donald Jewelers in Howell, Mich. Some of the parts date to 1917, when his father began the family business. At age 87, Yax says that he loves what he does. (AP Photo/Daily Press & Argus, Alan Ward)

"I took a watchmaking class when I came out of the service in 1946, and I've been doing it ever since," said Yax, whose family has been in the jewelry business in downtown Howell for more than a century.

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Repairing watches and clocks is a skill whose time is almost past, Yax acknowledges.

"In this age of quartz watches, there's not much you can do other than replace a battery," he said. "When they go, they go."

That means most of the watches he works on are valued collectibles and family heirlooms.

"People tell me they put some of the watches under glass after I've repaired them," he said.

Yax conducts his repairs in a well-lighted room just behind the sales counter of his downtown business.

He draws his precision tools from a well-worn wooden box before beginning the process of disassembling the stopped watches and clocks.

"I'll take them apart, clean them, then take a look for signs of wear," he said. "Most of the problems come from wear. People don't maintain their clocks as they should."

In most cases, timepieces can be repaired with little more than careful cleaning and lubrication.

"Usually, we don't see damage unless someone has tried to repair it themselves," Yax said.

Just in case, Yax keeps a stockpile of spare parts -- some of which date back to when he was the junior partner in the family business.

His father, Lawrence Yax, founded the business now known as Yax Jewelers, in 1912, and passed it to his son several decades later.

Donald Yax Sr. eventually sold that store and founded his current business -- less than a block down Grand River Avenue -- in 1978. He passed it along to his son, Donald Jr., better known as Buss, about 25 years ago.

"I had to sell it to get Social Security," he said with a laugh.

But selling didn't mean retiring.

By his estimate, he repairs three or four watches a week. He is also conducting longer-term repairs on more than a dozen table and floor clocks kept in the store's back shop.

Some of those are his own. They include the large, round wooden-panel-encased clock he acquired from a long-closed local elementary school.

"They had one of these in every room," he said.

Others, including glass-domed table clocks, were brought in by customers.

For grandfather and other large clocks, he'll even make house calls.

Yax prides himself on being able to repair even the most challenging cases.

"My favorite was a chiming (pocket) watch that sounded every 15 minutes, then sounded the hour," Yax said. "That one took a lot of work."